Noting that assessment continues to be at the forefront of the speech communication discipline and the academy in general, this paper reflects on one speech communication department's struggle to make assessment meaningful and doable. The Speech Communications Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock uses such "low tech"…

This paper describes a National Science Foundation-sponsored project at Louisiana Technological University to develop computer-based laboratories for "hands-on" introductions to major topics of computer science. The underlying strategy is to develop structured laboratory environments that present abstract concepts through the use of…

At the Homestead Campus of Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC), in Florida, one barrier to fully integrating technology in the classroom was identified as the low-level of student computer skills. To address the problem, the campus undertook a project to establish a technology basic skills workshop for all students. In informal interviews to…

The Center for Applied Social Issues (CASI), at Ohio's Sinclair Community College, is an interactive environment for sociology students, providing hands-on, course-integrated opportunities for learning sociological principles. Opened in fall 1992, CASI consists of computer applications, audio-visual aids, and table-top activities that extend…

This paper focuses on the preparation for and development of a teacher education computer lab at Eastern Nazarene College (Massachusetts). Topics addressed include: (1) events leading up to the identification of the need for such a facility, including the authors' intense technology-based professional development experiences and the passing of the…

The computer applications that hold most promise for writers form a large class of utility programs, including word processing and text editing. However, the computer can pose some problems for the student in the writing center. What proportion of writing center students arrive ready to work at the keyboard? Will learning to type present special…

When original plans for a large scale dial access information retrieval system (DAIRS) to serve the foreign language department of the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University were dropped, recommendations were solicited for redesigning a facility that would reflect change and provide the instructional functions required by both faculty and…

In 1992, North Shore Community College received a grant to develop a multimedia program for literature instruction based on Homer's "Odyssey." Rather than providing the text of the work, the program, "Journey Home," provides access to a wide array of related materials related to the "Odyssey," including 150 excerpts…

The techniques used for teaching college economics have remained relatively unchanged over the past few decades. These techniques do not give the students an opportunity to apply, to develop, or to practice the economic theory they read about and hear in lectures. They tend to reinforce student assumptions about the subject's "givenness"…

While much has been written about the theoretical basis for constructionism attempted in more traditional school settings, the Constructionist Learning Laboratory at the Maine Youth Center (the state facility for adjudicated youth ages 11-21) offers the first opportunity to document a full-scale implementation of constructionism in an…

When the learning assistence center's origins and development, beginning with the yen to be scientific and continuing to the rewards of combining technology with humanism, are considered in retrospect, they show the evolution and the revolutionary realignment of many very basic educational concepts. The historical irony of the learning assistance…

The Collaborative Learning Laboratory (CCL) is a technology-enriched environment for the support of collaborative learning activities. Networking, multimedia, and other computer facilities combine to augment Problem-Based Learning, a collective and student-centered method of instruction that has been used in professional education and is being…

This paper explores the challenges that South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, Arizona) faced in order to take advantage of the opportunities computer technology offered in its teacher education program. Three issues are examined which were critical to the effective use of computer technology: (1) the technology itself, including the college's…

The Learning Resource Center (LRC) at the Baraboo campus of the University of Wisconsin was designed to be an integral part of the teaching program, and to embody the multimedia approach to individual self-paced learning by using the most appropriate medium or combination of media for a given instructional situation. The collection includes books,…

Many external factors will influence classrooms as the year 2000 approaches. This paper looks at a vision of what schools may look like in the year 2000, with classrooms where information will be accessed, processed, displayed, demonstrated, and communicated through multimedia. There will be two different types of classroom: the master classroom,…